Fence-machine.



E. 'T. BOSWELL.

FENCE MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 27,1903. I 93 3 ,054, Patented Sept. 7, 1909;

avwcmtoz 11W knows UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDGAR '1. BOSWELIQVOF SILOAM, GEORGIA.

FENCE-MACHINE.

Application filed June 27, 1908.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDGAR T. BOSWELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Siloam, in the county of Greene and State of Georgia, have invented a new and useful Fence-Machine, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to devices for winding or unwinding fence wire when building or taking down wire fences, and has for its object the construction of a machine which may be easily operated by one person on the roughest ground and in the most confined places, and which will allow the operator free use of his hands for manipulating the machine, for parting undergrowth and helping himself and machine over rough and cheaply manufactured, which will beconvenient, durable and efiicient in opera tion, and which will not get out of order.

For these and still other objects which will appear as the nature of my invention is disclosed, my invention consists of certain novel features and combinations of parts of which the herein described fence machine is one of many possible embodiments.

lVhile herein I have described minute details of my invention, I do not limit myself to these, as the details of construction and combination may be greatly varied without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

In the annexed drawing, forming a part of this specification, in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views, and which are for illustrative purposes only, and therefore not drawn to any particular scale, Figure 1 is a top plan view of my machine, and Fig. 2 is a side elevation.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the herein described embodiment of my invention is shown provided with side pieces 1 and 2 held in spaced relation by means of cross-braces 3 and 4. The upper ends of Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 7, 1909.

Serial No. 440,718.

the pieces 1 and 2 areextended and merge into handles 5, while the lower ends are provided with bearing boxes 6, in which is rotatively mounted a wheel shaft 7 carrying the supporting wheel 8. One end of the shaft 7 carries a lower pulley wheel 9 the purpose of which will appear hereinafter.

The side pieces 1 and 2 are provided intermediate the braces 3 and 4: with alined bearing bores which rotatively receive the reelshaft 10. The end of the reel-shaft projecting beyond the side piece 2 is provided with an upper pulley wheel 11 fastened on said reel shaftby means of a key 12 or in any convenient manner. The shaft 10 is provided with a face plate 13 adapted to bear against the inner face of the side piece 2 and removably held in place as by means of the set-screw 14:. The reel shaft 10 may consist of a piece of gas pipe if desired.

The side piece 1 is provided on its inner face with a bearing plate 15 having arms 16 by means of which it is bolted to said side piece 1. The plate 16 is provided with a perforation adapted to receive the shaft 10 and registering with the bearing bore in the side piece 1.

The face plate 13 is provided with an inwardly turned finger 18 adapted to project between the arms of the reel 17, which carries the wire, whereby said reel is constrained to rotate with the shaft 10. The reel 17 is the reel on which the wire is shipped from the factory, but any kind of reel may be used.

A band or belt 19 connects the lower and upper pulley wheels 9 and 11, and trans- 'mits rotative motion to the shaft 10 as the wheel 8 is rolled on the ground.

The inner faces of the side pieces 1 and 2 are provided at the juncture with the handles 5, with inwardly turned staples 20 adapted to receive snap-hooks 21 or the like fastened to opposite points of a waist belt 22 adapted to be worn by the operator.

It is understood that the various parts of the machine may be constructed of any suitable material, and that the size and shape of the various parts may be varied as desired.

The operation of my machine is as follows: The machine may be operated with or without the belt 19 and the pulley wheels 9 and 11, and these parts may be omitted in the construction if desired. To place the reel of wire in the machine, the belt 19 is slipped from the machine, the setscrew 1 1 g i "a 13.4

loosened and the shaft- 10 moved toward its pulley end until the opposite end thereof is substantially flush with the face of the face plate 13. The machine is placed over a reel of wire, which may be lying on the ground, and after the bearing-bores of the reel-shaft 10 are made to aline with the bores of the reel, the reel-shaft is slipped back into place and the set-screw 14. tightened. If wire is to be wound onto the reel, the belt 19 is replaced and the operator puts on the waist belt 2:2 and takes the position indicated by the dotted lines of Fig. It is then only necessary to roll the machine along the fence, and the rotation of the wheel 8 will be comn'umicated to the reel and the wire will be automatically wound upon the reel. It will be noticed the waist belt 22 supports the machine and leaves the hands of the operator free to manipulate the arms of the reel, to hasten or retard the movement of the same, or to entirely operate the same if the belt 19 is omitted. When the machine is used to unwind wire, the operator reverses his position and pulls the machine after him, the tension of the wire unwinding the reel and the belt 19 not being used.

Attention is called to the fact that the operator has his hands free to part undergrowth or to help himself across gullies or up steep places. By having the machine suspended from exactly opposite points of the waist belt 22, the machine is prevented from tilting to one side and the use of two supporting wheels is obviated.

Having thus described my invent-ion, what I claim to be new and desire to secure by Letters Patent in the United States is l. A wire-fence machine comprising a pair of spaced side-pieces having alined bearingbores intermediately of their ends, a wheel- 'shaft rotatably mounted on the lower ends therefrom, said wheel-shaft, said reel-shaft and said side-pieces lying substantially in the same plane, whereby said bearing-bores may be placed in alinement with the bores of a reel lying on the ground.

2. A wire-fence machine comprising a pair of spaced side-pieces having alined bearingbores and having their upper ends formed into handles, a wheel-shaft rot-atably mounted 011 the lower ends of the side-pieces, a supporting-wheel on the wheel-shaft between said lower ends, a reel-shaft in said alined bores and longitudinally removable therefrom, and a reel on said shaft, said alined bores being disposed relative to the plane passing through said handles tangent to the periphery of said supporting-wheel a distance smaller than half the diameter of said reel, whereby said. alined bores may be placed in alinement with the bores of said reel when it is lying on the ground.

A wire-fence machine comprising a pair of straight spaced side-pieces having alined bearing-bores intermediately of its ends and upper and lower faces, a reel-shaft in said bores, a wheel-shaft mounted on the lower ends of the side-pieces, a supporting wheel on the wheelshaft between the side-pieces, pulley-wheels on the ends of said reel-shaft and said wheel-shaft and outside of the adjacent side-pieces, a band or belt connecting said pulley-wheels, a face-plate on said reelshaft contacting with the inner face of one of said side-pieces, means to releasably hold said face-plate in position, a finger on said face-plate adapted to engage between the arms of a reel, a bearing-collar on said reelshaftand rigidly secured to the inner face of the other of said side-pieces, and a waistbelt suspended between the upper ends of the side-pieces.

In testimony whereof I aliix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

E. T. BOSVELL.

lVi tnesses I J. E. WRIGHT, \V. C. DAvirnsoN. 

